Almost a year after the formation of the current government, a new survey has shown mixed results with regard to the attitude of the Arab public to a coalition that includes an Arab party, the United Arab List, headed by MK Mansour Abbas.
The survey was commissioned for a presentation to be given at the University of Haifa, and is a joint initiative of Haifa University, the Israeli Democracy Institute, and the New Israel Fund.
66 percent of those surveyed were opposed to the inclusion of an Arab party in a right-wing coalition, while an equal number of respondents said that they supported the inclusion of an Arab party in government on principle. However, just 44 percent of respondents said they supported the inclusion of the United Arab List in the current government.
According to Dr. Muhammad Khalaila of Haifa University, the Arab public is "tired of sitting on the sidelines of politics, and wants to exert influence from within the coalition. However, there are still many within the Arab sector who do not think that the United Arab List has any significant achievements to its credit," he added.
Just 31 percent of those surveyed felt that conditions for Israeli Arabs had improved over the last year, and only 36 percent were optimistic that conditions would improve in the future. 28 percent of those surveyed said they thought there was no point in voting in the next elections, although around a fifth of those said they would change their minds if the UAL chalked up significant achievements in the future.
In light of these results, one can appreciate why it is MK Ahmad Tibi, the most senior Arab MK and a member of the Joint List, who is viewed by Arabs as the foremost MK advancing Arab interests in the Knesset, with 25 percent support. UAL head Mansour Abbas is not far behind, with 21 percent of those surveyed naming him, and the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, Raed Salah, has 18 percent support, with MK Ayman Odeh trailing with 14.4 percent.
With regard to social issues, the overwhelming majority of Arabs surveyed - 88 percent - responded that they support equal rights between women and men. However, 72 percent of those polled said that they do not support rights for the LGBT community. "The fact that Mansour Abbas takes an anti-LGBT position is not by chance," said Dr. Khalaila. "He is supported in his position by the majority of Arabs, and on this issue, Abbas is going with the flow rather than attempting to spearhead change."